Zavodovski Island
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Zavodovski Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Traversay Islands group of the South Sandwich Islands. It lies 350 kilometres southeast of South Georgia Island at . It is the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands and the nearest to South Georgia.
Zavodovski Island was discovered and named by the Russian Antarctic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on Christmas Eve, 1819. Bellingshausen named it after Lieutenant Ivan Zavodovski, who was captain of his ship, the Vostok.[1]
The island is approximately 5 kilometres across with a peak elevation of 551 metres above sea level. The stratovolcano Mount Curry dominates the western side of the island while the eastern half is a low-lying lava plain. Mount Curry is believed to be active with fresh lava reported in 1830 and numerous indications of activity since. Approximately 50% of the island is composed of tephra.
The island is home to around a million pairs of breeding chinstrap penguins, making it one of the world's largest penguin colonies.
[edit] In popular culture
The island was the inspiration for the track '(Something's going down on) Zavodovski Island' by Jazz/Classical four-piece the Portico Quartet.
[edit] References
- LeMasurier, W. E.; Thomson, J. W. (eds.) (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union, 512 pp. ISBN 0-87590-172-7.
- Zavodovski, South Sandwich Islands with images
- Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program: Zavodovski Island
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